A Predictive Model of Vaccine Reactogenicity Using Data from an In Vitro Human Innate Immunity Assay System.

A primary concern in vaccine development is safety, particularly avoiding an excessive immune reaction in an otherwise healthy individual. An accurate prediction of vaccine reactogenicity using in vitro assays and computational models would facilitate screening and prioritization of novel candidates early in the vaccine development process. Using the modular in vitro immune construct model of human innate immunity, PBMCs from 40 healthy donors were treated with 10 different vaccines of varying reactogenicity profiles and then cell culture supernatants were analyzed via flow cytometry and a multichemokine/cytokine assay. Differential response profiles of innate activity and cell viability were observed in the system. In parallel, an extensive adverse event (AE) dataset for the vaccines was assembled from clinical trial data. A novel reactogenicity scoring framework accounting for the frequency and severity of local and systemic AEs was applied to the clinical data, and a machine learning approach was employed to predict the incidence of clinical AEs from the in vitro assay data. Biomarker analysis suggested that the relative levels of IL-1B, IL-6, IL-10, and CCL4 have higher predictive importance for AE risk. Predictive models were developed for local reactogenicity, systemic reactogenicity, and specific individual AEs. A forward-validation study was performed with a vaccine not used in model development, Trumenba (meningococcal group B vaccine). The clinically observed Trumenba local and systemic reactogenicity fell on the 26th and 93rd percentiles of the ranges predicted by the respective models. Models predicting specific AEs were less accurate. Our study presents a useful framework for the further development of vaccine reactogenicity predictive models.

Interleukin-7 mediates glucose utilization in lymphocytes through transcriptional regulation of the hexokinase II gene.

The cytokine interleukin-7 (IL-7) has essential growth activities that maintain the homeostatic balance of the immune system. Little is known of the mechanism by which IL-7 signaling regulates metabolic activity in support of its vital function in lymphocytes. We observed that IL-7 deprivation caused a rapid decline in the metabolism of glucose that was attributable to loss of intracellular glucose retention. To identify the transducer of the IL-7 metabolic signal, we examined the expression of three important regulators of glucose metabolism, the glucose transporter GLUT-1 and two glycolytic enzymes, hexokinase II (HXKII) and phosphofructokinase-1 (PFK-1), using an IL-7-dependent T-cell line and primary lymphocytes. We found that in lymphocytes deprived of IL-7 loss of glucose uptake correlated with decreased expression of HXKII. Readdition of IL-7 to cytokine-deprived lymphocytes restored the transcription of the HXKII gene within 2 h, but not that of GLUT-1 or PFK-1. IL-7-mediated increases in HXKII, but not GLUT-1 or PFK-1, were also observed at the protein level. Inhibition of HXKII with 3-bromopyruvate or specific small-interfering RNA decreased glucose utilization, as well as ATP levels, in the presence of IL-7, whereas overexpression of HXKII, but not GLUT-1, restored glucose retention and increased ATP levels in the absence of IL-7. We conclude that IL-7 controls glucose utilization by regulating the gene expression of HXKII, suggesting a mechanism by which IL-7 supports bioenergetics that control cell fate decisions in lymphocytes.

A comparison of chloroambucil- and xylene-containing polyamines leads to improved ligands for accessing the polyamine transport system.

Several disubstituted arylene- and chloroambucil-polyamine conjugates were synthesized and evaluated for their ability to target cells via their polyamine transport system (PAT). As compared to the monosubstituted analogues, the disubstituted arylene systems were superior PAT targeting agents. Using a Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell line (PAT active) and its CHO-MG mutant (PAT inactive), the series was screened for their PAT targeting ability. The data were expressed as a CHOMG/CHO IC 50 ratio. Indeed, the disubstituted systems gave high IC 50 ratios (e.g., ratio > 2000), which indicated high selectivity for the PAT. The chloroambucil adducts were less toxic than the corresponding arylmethyl compounds. In this regard, having the proper recognition element (i.e., homospermidine) and cytotoxic "cargo" were deemed paramount for successful drug delivery via the PAT.

JunD/AP-1-mediated gene expression promotes lymphocyte growth dependent on interleukin-7 signal transduction.

Interleukin-7 (IL-7) is an essential cytokine for lymphocyte growth that has the potential for promoting immune reconstitution. This feature makes IL-7 an ideal candidate for therapeutic development. As with other cytokines, signaling through the IL-7 receptor induces the JAK/STAT pathway. However, the broad scope of IL-7 regulatory targets likely necessitates the use of other signaling components whose identities remain poorly defined. To this end, we used an IL-7 dependent T-cell line to examine how expression of the glycolytic enzyme, Hexokinase II (HXKII) was regulated by IL-7 in a STAT5-independent manner. Our studies revealed that IL-7 promoted the activity of JNK (Jun N-terminal Kinase), and that JNK, in turn, drove the expression of JunD, a component of the Activating Protein 1 (AP-1) transcription factors. Gel shifts showed that the AP-1 complex induced by IL-7 contained JunD but not c-Fos or c-Jun. Inhibition of JNK/JunD blocked glucose uptake and HXKII gene expression, indicating that this pathway was responsible for promoting HXKII expression. Because others had shown that JunD was a negative regulator of cell growth, we performed a bioinformatics analysis to uncover possible JunD-regulated gene targets. Our search revealed that JunD could control the expression of proteins involved in signal transduction, cell survival and metabolism. One of these growth promoters was the oncogene, Pim-1. Pim-1 is an IL-7-induced protein that was inhibited when the activities of JNK or JunD were blocked, showing that in IL-7 dependent T-cells JunD can promote positive signals transduced through Pim-1. This was confirmed when the IL-7-induced proliferation of CD8 T-cells was impaired upon JunD inhibition. These results show that engagement of the IL-7 receptor drives a signal that is more complex than the JAK/STAT pathway, activating JNK and JunD to induce rapid growth stimulation through the expression of metabolic and signaling factors like HXKII and Pim-1.

Synthesis and bioevaluation of N-(arylalkyl)-homospermidine conjugates.

N1-(Arylalkyl)homospermidines (1c-1f) and terminally piperazine-substituted homospermidine conjugates (2a-2e) were synthesized and evaluated for cytotoxicity in mouse leukemia L1210, alpha-difluoromethylornithine (DFMO)-treated L1210, melanoma B16, spermidine (SPD)-treated B16, and HeLa cell lines. Results demonstrated that homospermidine was a more effective vector than piperazine-substituted homospermidine in ferrying diverse arenes into cells via the polyamine transporter. The leading compound, 9-anthracenemethyl-homospermidine (1a), was shown to induce apoptosis in B16 cells and IL-3 dependent FL5.12A pro-B cells. The novel conjugate 4-biphenylmethyl-homospermidine (1e) could also induce apoptosis. However, it exhibited different effect on the cell cycle of B16 cells compared to 1a.